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Glossary of Energy Terms

Letter W

WARRANTY-- A seller's guarantee to purchaser that
product is what it is represented to be and, if it is not, that it will be repaired or
replaced. Within the context of vehicles, refers to an engine manufacturer's
guarantee that the engine will meet "certified" engine standards at 50,000 miles or
the engine will be replaced. Retrofits may generally void an engine warranty.

WATER HEATER -- An appliance for supplying hot
water for purposes other than space heating or pool heating. [See California Code of
Regulations, Title 20, Section 1602(f)(8)]

WATSCO -- The Western Association for
Transmission System Coordination.

WATT -- A unit of measure of electric power at a point in
time, as capacity or demand. One watt of power maintained over time is equal to
one joule per second. Some Christmas tree lights use one watt. The Watt is named
after Scottish inventor James Watt and is capitalized when shortened to w and used
with other abbreviations, as in kWh.

WATT-HOUR -- One watt of power expended for one
hour. One thousandth of a kilowatt-hour.

WEATHERSTRIPPING -- Specially designed
strips, seals and gaskets installed around doors and windows to limit air leakage.

WET-BULB TEMPERATURE -- The
temperature at which water, by evaporating into air, can bring the air to saturation
at the same temperature. Wet-bulb temperature is measured by a wet-bulb
psychrometer.

WHEELING -- The transmission of
electricity by an entity that does not own or directly use the power it is
transmitting. Wholesale wheeling is used to indicate bulk transactions
in the wholesale market, whereas retail wheeling allows power producers
direct access to retail customers. This term is often used colloquially
as meaning transmission.

WHOLE HOUSE FAN -- A system capable of
cooling a house by exhausting a large volume of warm air when the outside air is
cool.

WHOLESALE COMPETITION -- A
system whereby a distributor of power would have the option to buy its
power from a variety of power producers, and the power producers would
be able to compete to sell their power to a variety of distribution
companies.

WHOLESALE POWER MARKET --
The purchase and sale of electricity from generators to resellers (who
sell to retail customers) along with the ancillary services needed to
maintain reliability and power quality at the transmission level.

WHOLESALE TRANSMISSION
SERVICES -- The transmission of electric energy sold, or to be sold,
at wholesale in interstate commerce (from EPAct).

WOBBE INDEX -- A measure of the amount of
heat released by a gas burner with a constant orifice, equal to the
gross calorific value of the gas in British thermal units per cubic foot
at standard temperature and pressure divided by the square root of the
specific gravity of the gas. The index is an indicator of the quality
of the fuel gas

WIRES CHARGE -- A broad term which
refers to charges levied on power suppliers or their customers for the use
of the transmission or distribution wires.

WRTA -- The Western Regional Transmission
Association, an RTG.

WSSCC -- The Western System Coordinating
Council. A voluntary industry association created to enhance reliability
among western utilities.

WSSP -- The Western Systems Power Pool. A
FERC approved industry institution that provides a forum for short-term
trades in electric energy, capacity, exchanges and transmission services.
The pool consists of approximately 50 members and serves 22 states, a
Canadian province and 60 million people. The WSSP is headquarter in
Phoenix, Arizona.